Effect of fresh cassava foliage on growth and faecal
nematode egg counts in Sindhi x Yellow cattle fed urea-treated rice
straw basal diet
Le Huu Khuong and Duong Nguyen
Khang*
Department of Microbiology and
Parasite
Faculty of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine,
Nong Lam University, Vietnam
* Department of Animal
Physiology and Biochemistry,
Faculty of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine,
Nong Lam University, Vietnam
duongnguyenkhang@yahoo
com
Abstract
Twenty three growing heifers were used to evaluate the effects
on feed intake, growth and faecal nematode egg counts of four levels of fresh cassava foliage: 0 (CF-0), 50 (CF-50), 75
(CF-75) and 100 (CF-100) g crude protein per 100 kg body weight in
diets based on urea-treated rice straw (UFRS) ad libitum,
0 72 kg/day dry matter (DM) of napier grass and 0 26 kg DM/day of cassava root
meal (CRM) per 100 kg live weight
Increasing the level of cassava foliage decreased UFRS intake
slightly, but increased total DM intake and rate of live weight
gain (R2 = 0 95). The numbers of eggs of trematoda parasite
appeared to decline with time on all cassava treatments from high initial
values.
Key words: Faecal egg counts, fresh cassava foliage, growing heifers, intake, nematodes
Introduction
In Southeast Asia, rice straw is the predominant dry season feed for ruminants despite its low nutritive value It is deficient in readily fermentable carbohydrate, protein, minerals and vitamins. As a result, intake and growth rate are generally low due to poor nutrition which also makes animals more susceptible diseases and parasitism (Leng 1997).
Important factors for the improvement of live stock productivity are supplementation with essential nutrients, an efficient breeding program for growth and milk yield, prevention of diseases and parasitism, husbandry and housing improvements, extension system and computer networks (Haenlein and Abdellatif 2004).
Almost 30 years ago, in the Dominican Republic, cassava was considered to have a good potential for use as forage for cattle (Ffoulkes et al 1978; Ffoulkes and Preston 1978). The fresh leaves, fed as the only source of forage and protein in a diet of molasses-urea, supported good growth rates (800 g/day) in fattening cattle (Ffoulkes and Preston 1978). The integral cassava plant was suggested to be used for dairy cow feeding as a supplement to pasture (Garcia and Herrera 1998). More recent studies are those of Khang and Wiktorsson (2000) and Khang and Wiktorsson (2004a, 2004b).
Parasitic infestation in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) has been a big problem for ruminants in the tropics. Condensed tannins have been reported to have potential in reducing the nematodes in the GIT of ruminants (Kahn and Diaz-Hernandez 2000). Seng Sokerya and Rodríguez (2000) reported that goats supplemented with fresh cassava foliage had much lower faecal nematode egg counts (1425 epg) compared with those supplemented with fresh grass (7500 epg). Similar findings were reported by Nguyen Kim Lin et al (2003). However, there appear to be no reports on the effect of fresh cassava foliage in reducing intestinal parasitic infestation in cattle .
The objectives of this experiment were therefore to determine whether fresh cassava foliage would reduce faecal nematode egg counts and improve the growth performance in cattle fed a basal diet of urea-treated rice straw.
Materials and methods
Animals and experimental design
The experiment was conducted from February to June 2003 at the experimental farm of Nong Lam University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Twenty three growing heifers of Sindhi x Yellow breed, one and a half to two years of age, were used (Table 1). The heifers were placed in individual stalls in an open-sided barn Clean, fresh water was available ad libitum during the experiment.
The treatments were 4 levels of fresh cassava foliage equivalent to 0 (CF-0), 50 (CF-50), 75 (CF-75) and 100 (CF-100) g crude protein per 100 kg live weight. Details of animals, and components of the basal diet are in Table 1.
|
Table 1 Details of experimental protocol |
||||
|
|
Treatments |
|||
|
CF-0 |
CF-50 |
CF-75 |
CF-100 |
|
|
Number of animals |
5 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
|
Pre-period (days) |
15 |
15 |
15 |
15 |
|
Experimental period (days) |
120 |
120 |
120 |
120 |
|
Range of initial LWt (kg) |
127 – 210 |
140 - 190 |
120 -192 |
120 - 202 |
|
Urea-treated rice straw |
Ad lib |
Ad lib |
Ad lib |
Ad lib |
|
Supplements (kg DM 100 kg-1 LWt day-1) |
||||
|
Napier grass, |
0.72 |
0.72 |
0.72 |
0.72 |
|
Cassava root meal |
0.26 |
0.26 |
0.26 |
026 |
|
Minerals and salt (g animal-1 day-1) |
20 |
20 |
20 |
20 |
|
|
||||
The experiment lasted 135 days. The first 15 days of the experiment were for adaptation to the new diets, and the next 120 days for recording. Data on feed intake were taken every day throughout the experimental period. Feed samples for chemical analyses were taken before feeding during the last three days of each 15 day interval. Samples of faeces for counting of nematode eggs were taken before feeding at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 weeks after staring the experiment.
Feed preparation
The fresh rice straw was treated with 40 g urea per 1000 g DM of straw, wrapped in an airtight plastic film and stored for three weeks before feeding. Napier grass was harvested at 42 days of growth, two times per day in the morning (9:00 h) and afternoon (15:00 h). All the cassava root meal was bought at a local market on one occasion. The fresh cassava foliage (variety KM 94) was harvested from the university farm at 45 days of re-growth cut at 30 cm above ground level, one time per day in the morning (7:00 h).
Animals and feeding management
The heifers were stratified by weight with four
animals in each group and among groups allotted randomly to one of the four
diets. Weighed feeds were offered to each individually-fed heifer. Urea-treated rice straw was offered ad
libitum daily at 8:00, 12:00 and 16:00 h. Napier grass, cassava
root meal and 20 g of a mixture of salt and minerals were offered
together once daily at 7:00 h. The heifers had access to the feeds during
the whole day. The cassava foliage was fed at
?
Measurements
Chemical composition of feed
ingredients
Feed samples were taken for analysis of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF). The DM, CP and EE of the feed samples were determined according to the procedures of AOAC (1990). The NDF and ADF concentrations of feed samples were determined according to the procedure of Van Soest et al (1991). Total condensed tannin of fresh cassava foliage was determined by the butanol-HCl method (Terrill et al 1992). The HCN content of fresh cassava foliage was determined by the alkaline titration method (AOAC 1990).
Dry matter intake
Refused feeds were weighed each morning throughout the experimental period.
Live weight gain
The heifers were weighed on two consecutive days at
15 day intervals.
Faecal parasitic egg counting
procedure
The numbers of the parasite eggs were counted under a microscope, according to the method described by Hansen and Perry (1994). 10 g of faeces were ground and diluted with 150 ml of flotation fluid (a saturated salt solution in water). After filtering through a "tea strainer", a sub-sample was transferred to both compartments of a McMaster counting chamber and allowed to stand for 5 minutes. All eggs were counted under a microscope at 10x magnification and multiplied by 50 to yield the number of faecal eggs per g.
Statistical analysis
Data were analyzed as a completely randomized design using
the general linear model and pair-wise comparison in Minitab
Statistical Software version 13 31.
Results and discussion
Chemical composition of diet
ingredients
The values for composition of the feed ingredients are similar to reports in the literature (Göhl 1971). The fresh cassava foliage (DM basis) in the present study contained 21 5 % CP, 28 8 % ADF, and 38 2 % NDF as compared to 20 2 % CP, 36 4 % ADF and 51 1 % NDF in the experiment reported by Khang and Wiktorsson (2004b). The fresh cassava foliage used in this study was slightly lower in DM, tannin and HCN contents compared to previous data (Man and Wiktorsson 2001, 2002).
|
Table 2. Chemical composition of feed ingredients (mean and SEM) |
||||
|
|
Cassava foliage |
Urea-treated rice straw |
Napier grass |
Cassava root meal |
|
DM (g kg-1) |
201±5.06 |
655±13.4 |
161±3.52 |
925±4.95 |
|
HCN (mg kg-1 in fresh) |
946±31.6 |
|
|
|
|
Composition of DM (g kg-1) |
|
|
|
|
|
Crude protein |
215±7.78 |
91.8±3.04 |
78.8±2.98 |
14.2±0.83 |
|
Ether extract |
73.4±3.71 |
11.7±0.41 |
2.5±1.17 |
22.9±0.52 |
|
ADF |
288±17.2 |
418±4.67 |
436±10.1 |
24.1±0.98 |
|
NDF |
381±20.5 |
657±10.1 |
743±9.09 |
34.5±1.24 |
|
Ash |
7.8±3.82 |
192±4.75 |
62.8±1.12 |
70.2±2.59 |
|
Tannin |
35.1±2.32 |
|
|
|
Feed intake and live weight gain
No refusals were observed of napier grass, fresh cassava foliage and cassava root meal, which were fed at constant amounts per 100 kg live weight on all treatments. The heifers normally consumed cassava root meal and fresh cassava foliage in less than 30 minutes. DM and crude protein intakes increased as the offer level of cassava foliage was increased (Table 3).
|
Table 3. Mean intakes of feeds by the heifers fed fresh cassava foliage |
||||||
|
|
CF-0 |
CF-50 |
CF-75 |
CF-100 |
SEM |
P |
|
FCF, kg/d |
0 |
0.24 |
0.35 |
0.4 |
|
|
|
HCN intake, g/d* |
0 |
1.15 |
1.72 |
1.94 |
|
|
|
Tannin intake, g/d* |
0 |
8.3 |
12.3 |
13.9 |
|
|
|
UFRS, kg/d |
1.19 |
1.11 |
1.03 |
1.04 |
|
|
|
NG, kg/d |
0.72 |
0.72 |
0.72 |
0.72 |
|
|
|
CRM, kg/d |
0.26 |
0.26 |
0.26 |
0.26 |
|
|
|
Total DMI, kg/d |
2.17a |
2.33b |
2.36bc |
2.42c |
0.020 |
0.001 |
|
Total CP, g/d |
170a |
213b |
230c |
241d |
2.29 |
0.001 |
|
% CP in diet DM |
7.8 |
9.1 |
9.8 |
10 |
|
|
|
FCF as % of total DMI |
0 |
10.3 |
14.8 |
16.5 |
|
|
|
FCF = fresh cassava
foliage, UFRS = urea-treated fresh rice straw, NG = napier grass, CRM =
cassava root meal. |
||||||
|
Table 4. Means and SEM of live weight (kg) and weight gain by the heifers supplemented with fresh cassava foliage |
||||||
|
|
CF-0 |
CF-50 |
CF-75 |
CF-100 |
SEM |
P |
|
Initial |
172 |
170 |
170 |
167 |
11.2 |
0.99 |
|
Final |
186 |
187 |
189 |
187 |
11.6 |
0.99 |
|
Daily gain |
0.117 |
0.138 |
0.159 |
0.16 |
0.014 |
0.15 |
Figure 1. Relation between
offer level of supplementary cassava protein and
live weight gain of "local" Yellow cattle
Faecal nematode egg count
There was an indication (Table 5 and Figure 2) that the EPG declined during the experiment for heifers fed fresh cassava foliage.
|
Table 5. Means of faecal parasitic egg count (FEC/g fresh faeces) of heifers fed increasing levels of cassava foliage |
||||
|
Weeks |
CF-0 |
CF-50 |
CF-75 |
CF-100 |
|
0 |
11 |
38 |
28 |
16 |
|
2 |
11 |
23 |
22 |
7 |
|
4 |
20 |
26 |
15 |
24 |
|
6 |
16 |
12 |
22 |
8 |
|
8 |
11 |
11 |
15 |
17 |
|
10 |
9 |
10 |
15 |
9 |
|
12 |
13 |
4 |
7 |
2 |
Conclusion
-
Supplementing increasing levels of fresh cassava foliage to Sindhi x Yellow cattle fed a urea-treated rice basal straw diet led to a linear increase in live weight gain and an indication of reduced levels of nematode eggs in the faeces.
Acknowledgments
The author is grateful to the Swedish International Development
Authority (Sida/SAREC) for funding this study and Mr Phuc for his
technical help.
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